Photographic printing machine



Nov. 1, 1927.

A. G. lOGDEN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE v Filed Deo. 8, 1925 5sheets-sheet' l INV TOR QM/@g 70 TORNEY Nov. l, 1927.

A. G. OGDEN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo.'8. 1925 Nov. 1, 1927. 1,647,24

A. G. OGDEN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 8. 1925 5sheets-sheet 3 l" 86 37" 95 i f IQ/2 l .f

Nov. l, 1927.

- A.` G. QGDEN pHOTOQRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE 0 A:if/27 Nov. l, 1927.

A. G. oGvDl-:N PHOTOGRAPHC- PRINTING MACHINE File@ Dec. s, 1925 l 5sheets-sheet 5 'l n l l l In INVENTOR l fia/pa ATTGRNEY Patented Nev.'1, 1921. f

UNITED -sTATiais PATENT OFFICE.

ASHLEY GUY OGDRN, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, AssIeNoR To AMERICAN MACHINE fa 'roUNnRY COMPANY,A A CORPORATION or NRW JERSEY.

-PHOTOGRARRIO rRINrINe MACHINE.

Application mea December e, '19:25: yserial Noun-,122.

This invention relates to an improvement Iin photographic printingmachines of the type wherein a plurality Vof duplicates of the samenegative, or of diiferent negatives, is made in predetermined positionsupon, a presserplate to be used for lithographie re- In certain knownmachines offthis type that are operable in daylight, a stationary lightand a stationary negative areused, and means are provided'for shifting asensitized lplate to different printing positions relative to thestationary negative. These vmachines are designed to operate on large"presser-A plates, and the two devices which must be moved in order toshift the sensitized plate, are of necessity large and heavy. VI-Ieretofore, it has been customary to provide each of such devices withtwo guiding surfaces, one at either side, and with two interconnectedscrewsl for moving said devices. `It has been found in practice,however, that this construction does not always result in accurateregistration, forthe reason that the initial machining of the parts isdiiiicult,

and their wear permits a waving movement involving difficulties incontrollingthe registrations with the accuracy desired. It has beendiscovered that this difficulty can be overcome by the utilization of asingle guiding surface and a single screw in, close juxtapositionthereto for each plate-shifting clement of the machine, located at oneside thereof, and by permitting the opposite side r of the element tomove freely, the rigidit of the element being` sutiicient to cause botlsides ofi the same to move in absolute unison. A. In these machinesalso, the mechanism for operating the screws which move the sensitizedplate, and that for showing the exact distance the plate moves, werecrude, and inaccurate in operation. Furthermore, they could be used onlyfor duplicating an original negative hy time exposures directly on apress-plato.

The main Object of the present invention is the production of animproved photographic printing machine that is free from the defects ofthe earlier machines, and

0 which may be used for preparing, by instan taneous exposures of anoriginal negative, a multiple negative to be duplicated ona pressplate,as well asfor dupllcating the original negative by vtime exposuresdirectlyfon a press-plate, so that economy of time and cost,

and higher eiiiciency' through greater accuracy, may be attained.v Withthese and other the invention consists incertain parts, constructions,and combinations-which will be hereinafter fully described and thenspecifiform a partof this s ecitication and in which like characters othe same or like parts, Fig. 1 is 'a plan view reference indicate y.objects not .specifically mentioned yinv view,

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of a machine constructed in accordancewith g the invention; Fig. 2' isaside elevation of the structure shown inlFig. 1; Fig. 2a is a-fragmentary cross-.sectional view' taken on the line 2%# a in Fig. 2,showing the Vernier 2 attachment tothe machinebase and lower carriage;Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the structure shown inFigs. 1 and 2; Fig.4 is a sectional side elevation showing the mount yand the carriages andthe attachment of the pressiplate frame; Fig.5 is a sectional endelevation showing the'press-plate frame lowering device and the negativeslide; Fi s. 6'

to 9 lare sectional views showing detlai s of f the press-plate tensionmechanism; Figs. 10 and 11 are front and end viewsshowingthe arrangementof the Vernier scales; Figs. 12

and 13 are front and sectional side views showing the screw turnlnghandle, pointer,

and index dial; Figs. 14 and 15 are sectional side and end views of the'dry-pla'te holder,

combined with raising and lowering device' Figs. 16 and 17 are plan andcrOss-sectional views showing the outside negative registering device;Figs. 18 and 19 are ,plan and cross-sectional views .showing theinsertion of the outside registering frame into the negative slide; Fig.20 is a' detail fragmentary view of the slide, filler block, and' barandl screw employed to lock the slide in operative position; and Fig. 21is a fragl -mentary view showing the -hlock used in connection vwith theadjusting screws 113.

Generally speaking, the Original negative is first accurately registered(within one thousandth of an inch) in the centre of a Slidable framewhich is subsequently placed and vheld stationary at the exact centre ofthe machine, which essentially consists of a solid.v i

bed upon which are mounted, one on the other, two rectangular carriages,the lower carriage being slidable on the bed, and the upper carriagebeing slidable on the lower trolled isbroughtinto the .diierent predeceAtermined positions with respect to the centre of the negative, and ineach position, after the carriages have been locked in place andintimatecontact has been established between the press-plate and thenegative by lowering the frame carrying the former and pressing it,against the latter by swinging into place and operating a pressure-headprovided for the purpose, the vnegative is photographed upon thepress-plate, so that, upon completion of the entire manipulation, thepress-plate contains the desired number of duplicates, accuratelyspaced. To check. up on the movement of the screws and tov accuratelyread the distance traveled, each of the two lcarriages is provided witha y sliding Vernier having three scales.

` To expedite. thev inal work of reproduction, in case `of smallnegatives the duplicating machine may be used to iirstl prepare amultiple negative which is subsequently Vduplicated on the press-plate.For this purpose, a dry-plate is inserted into the frame carried by theupper carriage and the machine is manipulated as before until t-hedesired number of photographic impressions have been taken from theoriginal negativa Thereupon the dry-plate thus prepared is used in placeof the original negative kand the process is repeated with' apress-plate in the 'upper carriage. Since the dry-plate process requiresinstantaneous exposure, while the press-plate work is done with timeexposure, the machine is fitted with a removable device having aphotographic shutter, this device being pulled out `of the way andreplaced by an ordinary iexible shutter for press-plate work.

All photographic operations can in this machine be handled in ordinarydaylight, suitable means being'provided to protectthe photo-sensitivesurfaces of the negatives and press-plates. The latter, not being' in Vahighly sensitive condition, are kept in the shadow by the frameconstruction and by suitable curtains dropped from the carriage to theplush cover on the top of the machine base. 4Dry-plates are protected byspecial dry-plate holder construction by which light-sealingsurface-contact is maintained vwhile the carriages are mov-ed.

n I reg1ster frames are emplbyed. When a negative mounted in a ymetalholder, is accurately regstered in a. sepa-rate.registering frameprovided for the purpose, it will automatically occupy the centre of thenegative slide when inserted into the latter vafter being transferredfrom one of these out-- side register frames.

Referring particularly to Figs. l to 5, the base 20 of the machine,which is supported by legs 2l, is provided with a V- shaped guiding rail22 running the entire length of one of -its sides, and with a parallelnon-guiding rail 23 on the other, these two rails forming a track forthe lower carriage. On theguiding rail 22 is fitted a correspondingguiding bearing surface 24 0f the lower carriage 25, which, ou itsopposite side, has a non-guiding bearing surface including anti-frictiontraveling on the rail 23. The lower carriage 25 has, at right angles toits guiding bear ing surface 24, a V-shaped guiding rail 27 ,on whichrests a corresponding guiding bearing surface 28 of the upper carriage29. The opposite side oi said upper carriage is provided with anon-guiding bearing surface including anti-friction rollers 30 restingon a non-guiding rail of the lower carriage. The base of the machinecarries a bracket 31 in which the screw 32 for moving the lower carriageis journaled, the screw 32 passing through the threaded socket 33attached to the lower carriage This screw is thus located in closejuxtaposition with the guiding rail which controls the direction ofmovement of the lower carriage, the thrust of the screw being in ex act`parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the guiding rail. VVaveringmovement of the carriage is prevented, even when the guiding rail andscrew wear, by the rigidity of the carriage and the freedom with whichits unguided side moves. n

At right angles to the direction ot' movement of the lower carriage,said lower carriage carries a bracket 34 which forms a journal for thescrew 35 for moving the upper carriage by means ot' the threaded socket36 affixed' to it. Thus, wavering movement of the upper carriage isprevented in the same way that/it is prevented iu the lower carriage.

rollers I 26,

The screws 32 and 35 are turned by means of handles 37 provided withpointersmoving over dials 39 keyed to brackets 31 and 34 respectively.The handle 37, Figs. 12 and 13, is hollow, and it carries' the pointer38 which is forced outwardlyA towards the dial 39 by the spring 40, theend of the pointer engaging one of the division holes of the dial whenthe spring yis released. By turning the knob 41 so that the pin 42,inserted near its end in the pointer 38, engages thc vertical portion ofthe bayonetslot 43, the spring is restrained, and' the pointer is heldaway from lthe dial, so that the handle canl be freely turned.y Overeach dial are mounted two movable fingers 44 and 45, the split hub ofthe finger 45 surrounding the hub of the finger 44 and being providedwith a lock-screw 46,so that the two fingers can be set and held in anydesired relative position at any point on the dial.. The fingers- 44 and45 are pressed against the dial by the spring-washer 47 4bearing againstthe hub of the finger 45.

The dial is, or `may be, so divided that each hole represents a carriagemovement of one-thousandth of an inch. vFor example, the dial shown inFig-12 is 'used in connection with a screw having a pitch of one-fifthof an inch,and it is divided into 200 divisions. The distance to be,traveled by the carriage having been translated into so many completeturns of the handle, plus so many holes of the dial, the lingers 44 andi" 45 are set the required number of holes apart and then as a unit ,areturned so that the trailing fingerlies over the ,edge of the hole inwhich the pointer 38 of the handle has last stopped. To make thegiven'move,

then,the handle is turned the required num.

ber of full revolutions and advanced to the leading finger, whereuponthe point-er is released so vas to cause it to enter the indicated holeof the dial. For the next move of equal distance, the finger unit 44,45, lett set as before, is advanced until the trailing finger touchesthe pointer stillin the hole just waca'ted by the leading finger, and

then the handle is turned as before and the pointer inserted in the holeindicated by the leading finger.

The verniers used for reading the distances traveled bythe carriagesconsist of a stationary scale 48, Figs. 10 and 11, attached to the partcarrying the journal for .the driving screw of the carriage in question,

and two movable scales, the upper scale-49 being attached to the slidingcarriage by a bracket 50, and the lower scale 51 being free to moveanywhere along the stationary scale. By setting the zero of the scale 51to the starting line of the marker 52 attached to the scale 49, theexact distance moved is obtained by reading scale 51 through the marker52 and noting the co- Having moved the carriaes into the exact desiredpositions for taking the impression on the press-plate, they are held inplace aga-inst accidental displacement byx l locking the screw-clamps-54 carried by them e. on the rods 5'5 attached to the machine base Aandlower carriage respectively (Fig. l). The negative slide? 56 (Figs. l, 5and 19),

slides on a V-shaped guiding rail 57l and on a parallel non-'guidingrail .1 58 of the machine base,'upon which it is held by the overlappingstrips 59 aiiixed to the top'of the base. Within the frame 56, twoghissplates 60 and 61 are supported, the lower plate 60 being held in a frame62 which can' be leveled by the vertical screws 63. The upper plate 61is held in a frame 64 which can be centered by the horizontal adjustingscrews Upon the upper plate 61, the negative 66 'is mounted asnearcentral as possible, and it is then accurately registered in the frame56 by means of the adjusting screws 65 and of an auxiliary transp-arentcross-frame 67, temporarily attached to the' frame 56 by means` oftaper-pins 68, the frame 67 beingl marked with cross-lines locating theexact centre of the frame 56. The slide 56 for this purpose is placed atthe end of its track which overhangs the .solid part of the base so thata. light can be placed below the glass plates 60 and 61. After properlycentering the negative, 'the registering frame 67 is removed andthenegative slide 56 `is pushed into the machine u ntil it ,Strikes the lstop 69, whereupon the` centre ofthe neg. e' tive slide will be exactlyat the centre of, the

' by the 'lock-screw 72 for locking said slide in stationary position. j

From the upper carriage 29 is suspended the inner trame 73, the latterhaving the brackets 74 towhich are pivoted the link 75 shafts 77supported in bearines 78 and 79 affixed to the upper carriage. lheshafts 77 can be simultaneously turned by the lever 80 which is pinnedto one of them, the motion being transmitted to the other by means ofthe cranks 81 andthe connecting rod 82. Vhen the lever 80 in full lineposition, the inner' frame 73 is raised so that the press-plate carriedby it is clear of the negative and can be moved about without injury Vtoits sensitized lower surface, and

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4connected with the cranks 76 attached to the posure is furnished whenturned into the dotted position shown in Fig. 5, after-the desiredposition has been reached and the carriages have been locked in place,the press-plate is in contact with the negative, ready to receive thefinal pressure requiredfor the photographic lmpression,` While inl itsreleased position, the

' lever `80 is prevented from accidentally being raised and therebylowering the press-plate while the latter is in motion, lby the pin 813(Fig. 4) which is resilient'ly supported in the bracket 84 attached tothe carriage 29, the in 83 being beveled in such manner that 1twillautomatically recede and allow the level 80 to pass when depressing thelatter.

The pressure for proper photographic eX- bg' the pressure-head 85 whichis carried by t swivel-beam 86, the

llatter being fulcrumed on the shaft 87 held lby the bracket 88supported on the lateral yprojection 89 of the machine base.

The pressure-head, which carries the interchangeable press-block 90,slidably held. by a universal joint 91, is slidably attached to the beam86 and is controlled by' the cranklever 92 attached to the hubl of thebeam.

86. The crank 92 is connected to the pressure-head by means of anadjustable rod 93, bellcrank 94, and links 95. When the crank is turnedin the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3, the press-block yisforced into the dotted position, thereby exert-ing tionary blocks 101which are attached to the carrier-frame and a ainst which theclamp-heads 102 are force between them. Springs 104 are provided whichseparate the clamp jaws upon release ofy the screws 103.` Theclampsalong the opposite edge of the press-plate board consist of theblocks 105; slidably attached to turning back the handle, the springs125.

the frame 100'by means of screws 106 assing through slots cut in theholdingange of the lframe 100, the blocks 105 having lugs 107 in whichare pivcted the clamp-heads 108. Screws 109, freely vpassing through theblocks 105, bear against plates 110 attached in the bottoms of thenotches of the board l 97, and carry the restan ular nuts 111 fittingbetween andg y the 'lugs 107 of the blocks 105 and ng against theupright arms of the cl heads 108. 'l3y turning the screw 109, te nut 111is forced against the clamp-head 10.8, rst closing its jaw against thepress-plate 96 inserted bebg the screwsV 103, after thepress-plate haseen inserted tween it and theblock 105, and then pushing the block 105and clamp-head 108. away from the board 97, thereby stretching thepress-plate. :Sprin s 112, provided within the lugs 107 oit the locks105, pull back the 1 blocks 105 and vopen the clamp jaws when the screws109 are released.

When the machine is to be used to make a multiple negative upon adry-plate, the inner frame 73 is lowered by the lever 80 until the usualplush covering placed around the bottom of the vdry-plate carrier justmeets the usual plush covering of the top of the machine base, therebypreventing light from v entering between them when the carriages aremoved. When lowered to the proper position, the inner frame is lockedaffainst further downward motion, which would interfere with themovement of the carriages,

-by the ystop screws 113 (Figs. 2 and 3),'car- In order to bring thedry-plate into contact with the negative for printing, a separatedepresser device, shown in Figs. 14 and 15, is incorporatedwith thedry-plate carrier. The board 115 on which the dry-plate 116 is mountedupon the rubberv cover 117, has four upwardly projecting studs 118passing through the corner-brackets 119 which carry the bearings 120 forthe rock-shafts 121. Upon. :these shafts are mounted 'the' oval-shapedcams 122 engaging the uppeiI ends ofthe studs 118. The cams on theshafts 121 are cross-connected by the adjustable connecting'rods 123, sothat all cams can be simultaneously actuated by the handle 124 'affixedtoone of the rock-shafts. When turning lthe handle 124 in the directionof the arrow, the cams 122Idepr'ess the Studs 118, thus lowering thedry-plate. On

placed around the studs within the brackets l119 and bearing against thecollars 126 pinned to the studs, exert an upward pressure and force theboard 115 back into its clearing position. The metal frame 127, carryingthe board 115, has brackets 128 containing spring-plungers 129 whichpress the rollers 130 agamst the brackets 119 of the dry-plate board,thus taking up all clearance. On two sides of its bottom surface, theiframe 127 carries strips 131 upon which slides the shutter 132 forcovering the dryplate. All around the edges of the board (Fig. 4)inserted along two perpendicular sides, so that the press-plate carrier100,

or the dry-plate carrier 135, inserted into it,

can be properly secured by tightening it up against the opposite sidesof the frame. p

The light control for making press-plate or dry-plate exposures, isarranged as follows: At the bottom of the lnachine base 20, two strips139 are supported, running across the bed along the central opening ofthe machine. From these strips is slidingly suspended a light-tightchamber 140 which has a central opening at the bottom covered by aphotographic shutter 141, and which carries an electric lamp 142attached to it by means of the bracket 143. .For dry-plate work, thischamber and lamp are pushed by the rod 144 into the centre of themachine, directly below the central window, as in Fig-3. For press-platework, the chamber 140 is pushed to one side, exposing the centralopening which then is covered by pushing the shutter 145 shown in Fig.3, which also is supported by the strips 139, into the centre of the.base by means of the rod 146. The rods 144 and 146 are hinged to thelight chamber and shutter, respectively, so that they can be readilypushed out of the way on the rests 147 when in their drawn-out position.In Fig. 2, the light chamber is set for press-plate work and the rod 144is shown all the way out and folded back on rest 147, while in Fig. 3the chamber 140 is in. position for 'dry-plate work, and rod 146 is out,the shutter 141 being drawn back, either to make room for the lightchamber in dry-plate work, or to allow an exposure to be made inpress-plate work. In the latter case, a separate lamp, not shown, isplaced in a stand on the floor below the opening under the negative.

As an important adjunct in the efficient manipulation of the machine,4separate negative-registers are provided, as shown in Figs. 16 to 19.In order to enable negatives to be set up for subsequent obs while thenegative slide is still in use in the machine, a metal negative holder148 carrying theglass plate 149 and having the adjusting screws 150along its circumference, is placed in the adjustable registering frame151 to which is fastened by the taper pins 152 the'frame 153 havingcross pieces 154 marking the exact centre of the frame 151 whichcoincides with the exact centre of the negative slide. After thenegative, placedon the glass plate 149, has been properly centered inthe frame 151 by the adj ustin screws150 against the stops 155 and 156,t e screws on two sides are locked by the lock nuts. provided for thispurpose, and the negative holder 148 is removed from the registeringframe 151 by loosening the unlocked screws 150, and is Y then insertedupon the glass plate 157 of the adjusted spacer-frame 158 shown in Figs.'18 and 19, to the inside measurements ot' which the stops 155 and 156of the registering'frame 151 are adjusted. Hence, by retightening theunlocked adjusting screws 150 of the negative holder,the latter will beaccurately centered in the spacer-frame 158, and since the latter hasits adjust-ing screws 159 already set to accurately register in the,

negative slide, the negative will automatically register in the negativeslide when the spacer-frame 158 is placed into the same and its unlockedadjusting screws are tightened In view of the foregoing, a detaileddescription of the operation of the device is deemed to be unnecessaryand is therefore omitted in the interest of brevity.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a sta tionary light, astationary negative, and means for shiftinga sensitized plate to different printing positions relative to saidstationary negative, of a negative slide movable in and out of operativeposition and lhaving a guiding bearing surface and a.

parallel non-guiding bearing Surface, a track including a guiding railand a parallel non-guiding rail supporting said surfaces, and means forlocking said slide in operative position including a filler-blockengagingl said slide and a bar having a screwv engaging saidfiller-block.

2. The combination with a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative, and means for shiftinga sensitized plate to different printing positions relative to saidstationary negative, of a plate carriage having a guiding bearingsurface and a parallel non-guiding bearing surface, a track ineluding aguiding rail and a parallel non-guiding rail supporting said surfaces, ascrew extending along and in close juxtaposition to said guiding railand engaging said carriage to move it along said track, and acontrolling device for governing the movement of said screw including adial havinga4 circular series of holes near its periphery, a handle onsaid screw carrying a pointer for engagement with a selected one of saidholes, and means adjustably mounted on said dial for selecting the holeto be engaged by said pointer when shifting said plate.

3. The combination with a device for screw including a dialhaving a.circular series of holes near its periphery, a handle on said screwcarrying a pointer for engagementvvith a selected one oli said holes,and means adjustably mounted on said dial for seleotingthe hole to beengaged by said.

pointer 'when shifting said plate includingr two relatively adjustablearms adjustably rotatable about the axis of said dial.

4. The combination vvith a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a sta- .tionary light, a stationary negative, and

means for shifting a sensitized plate to different prmting pos1t1onsrelative to said stationary negative and including a platecarriage andanl actuating' screvv for said carriage, of a controlling device forgoverning the movement of said screvv including a dial having a circularseries of holes near its periphery, ahandle on said screw carrying apointer for engagement with a selected one of said holes, and meansadjustably mounted on said dial tor selecting the hole to be engaged bysaid pointer when shifting said plate.

5. The combination With a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative` and Ameans forshifting a sensitized plate to different printing positions relative tosaid stationary negative and including a plate carriage and an actuatingscrew for said carriage, of a controlling device forgoverning themovement of said screw including a dial havinga circular series ot holesnear its periphery, a handle on said screw carrying a. pointer-forengagement with a selected one of said holes, and means adjustablymounted on said dial for selecting the hole to be engaged by saidpointer when shifting said `plate including two relatively adjust-` ablearms adjustably rotatable about the axis of said dial.

t3. The combination with' a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative, andprinting sensitizedplates and havinga menare means for shifting a sensitized plate to dii-'erentprinting positions relative to said stationary negative, ot aVernier device tor graphically indicating the movement ot said plateincluding astationary scale, a second scale movable with said plate, anda third scale freely movable along said stationary scale. V

'i'. The combination with a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative, and means for`shitting a sensitized plate to different printing positionsv relativeto said stationary nega-tive,`ot` a negative slide movable in and. outo't operative' position and having a lower glass plate and lmeans forleveling the same in said slide, and also having an upper glass plateand means for centering the saine in said slide.

8.The combination with a device for stationary light, a stationarynegative, and means for shifting a sensitized plate tol dit'- ferent.printing positions relative to said stationary negative, otra negativeslide movable in and outfof operative position and having a lower glasslate and means for leveling the same in said slide, and also having anupper glass plate and means for centering the same in said slideincluding an auxiliary registering device having crosslines marking theexact centre ot said slide.

9. The combination with a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative, and means for shiftinga sensitized plate to dit'- ferent printing positions relative to saidstationary negative, ot a negative slide movable in and out of operativepostiomand an auxiliary registering device includingA a spacer-trame inwhich a negative may he centered While said slide is in usc and latertransferred to said slide.

10. The combination with a device for printing sensitized plates andhaving a stationary light, a stationary negative, and means for shiftinga sensitized plate to dit` ferent printing positions relative to saidstationary negative, of a removable plalc holder comprising a boardhaving a covering` of yielding material engaging the plate, andspuug-opened and screw-closed clamps curvried by said board and engagingoppositel edges of the plate to hold it against'said :melding material.

In testimony whereof, Il have signed mv name to this specification.

ASHLEY GUY GGDEN.

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